Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Julie, Terry, and David on this single shore entry night dive of 101 minutes in depths to 5.5m. 6m viz and 19C water temp.

We returned to the river following a hiatus of several weeks in the hope of finding some more "gems" amongst the silt and silt-covered growths on the river bed and we were not disappointed. Three new species have been added to our list and a new size record for Pleurobranchus peronii at 80mm. The aeolids Unidentia angelvaldesi and Pteraeolidia ianthina continue to dominate the count. The Tamanovalva sp. 1 (a bi-valved sacoglossan) is a juvenile however the protoconch (larval shell) is very prominent on the apex of the left shell being characteristic of the genus. It appears very similar to Tamanovalva babai but being very juvenile (the "rhinophores" aren't yet fully developed) and somewhat out of the known distribution this can only be conjecture. The Trinchesia sp. 24 were found on the very shallow sand spit at our exit point in the last couple minutes of our dive probably feeding on the small opportunistic athecate hydroids growing there. They react very aggressively with a startle response when aggravated by quickly raising and spreading their cerata towards the perceived threat. The third of our new additions presented more of a problem but we are of the belief that it is different to both our existing undescribed Lomanotus - sp. 1 & sp. 2 with both light and dark coloured forms represented in the same colony.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The Nudibranch Team were invited to present a nudibranch talk and join in the diving during the recent Nudi Fest run by Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre at Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island. Julie, Terry & David attended with David sitting out the actual dives whilst recovering from a back ailment. Julie and Terry partook of 4 dives on Rigid II at Shag Rock (3 dives) and Boat Rock (1 dive) pointing out and identifying nudibranchs to the other enthralled divers. Different slugs were sighted at each of the sites and listed below are the species found during those dives. Surge and currents probably prevented a larger count being achieved so that sites will be more carefully chosen to suit the intention in future.

At the Saturday night presentation David explained how to recognize the different types of sea slugs and included information about their behaviour. Julie spoke of recent finds by The Team in the Mooloolah River illustrating just how rewarding a new habitat can be (11 new species to the list in just eleven dives) whilst Terry presented images of and spoke about the Branchs found during the dives that day. All round, very well received by an attentive and appreciative audience hungry for information.

About the Team

The Team at Nudibranch.com.au consists of Gary Cobb, David Mullins, Julie Schubert and Terry Farr. We spend as much time as we can getting out in our "backyard" searching for and recording Nudibranchs found here on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.